Insert Hold Music Here

Hello Champions! My original plan for today’s post was to sum up the poll winners and release the questions for the top heroes, but I ran into a bit of a scheduling snafu last week. I was supposed to finish The Revived, book 3 of the Second Age of Retha series, on Friday or Saturday. Buuuut the book is turning out to be much longer than anticipated, so I’m hustling to get the last few chapters done and the Q&A session with Merlin, Emerys, Friedrich and Farrin is going to be delayed until it’s finished. But, I still have some fun updates to share!

Firstly, I’ve finally launched a Timeless Fairy Tale boxset, (pictured above) which contains the first three fairy tales: Beauty and the Beast, Wild Swans, and Cinderella! This boxset doesn’t have any extra content, it’s just a cheaper way to buy the first three books in the series. The goal is to use it for promotions and giveaways, but in order for the boxset to qualify for various promotional sites, it needs a few more reviews. If you have read these books and you have a moment, could you please fill out a review? It will be a huge help to me and hopefully bring new readers into the series. (Click here for the book link) Thank you so much for your support!

As some of you might noticed, I now have a pintrest button at the top of the website as I have finally gotten an official account and a made some really fun boards. You can check out my account here, I have a board for fairy tale book retellings, video game jokes, castles, and–my favorite–some beautiful quote images Myrrhlynn whipped up for me! (You can see an example below.)

Although I’ve skulked around pintrest for years now, this is really my first attempt at having an “official” page, so I’m still stumbling around a bit. As I told the Facebook Champions, I hoping some of you guys are more knowledgeable about it so I can stalk  I mean follow you in hopes that some of your experience will rub off on me.

That’s it for today! Hopefully I can get The Revived finished in the next few days. This is the third time I’ve overshot the production schedule with it due to its unexpected length–It’s going to be the longest book I’ve released since Life Reader. By a lot. But I’m so close to the end, I can almost taste it! As usual, thanks for reading, and an extra big thank you if you took the time to review! I hope I get to see you in Pintrest–and don’t be afraid to follow me. I’ll follow you back…as soon as Pintrest stops accusing me of being a robot. 😉 Have a lovely day, and I hope you had a fantastic Easter!

Catch up

Good day to you, Champions! Today marks the release of the second Entwined Tales book, An Unnatural Beanstalk, written by Brittany Fichter. An Unnatural Beanstalk is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, and the main heroine is Eva–the sweetest of the woodcutters’ children who also happens to be the sister Rynn is closest to. It’s in KU, or is available to purchase for $2.99. I hope you guys enjoy this newest addition to the series!

And with this we have finally closed out all the blog posts for A Goose Girl and Twelve Dancing Princesses. Before we move on, there’s some housekeeping stuff I wanted cover.

Firstly, the Timeless Fairy Tale PDF has been updated! (You can see the PDF Here, or in the Timeless Fairy Tale tab under books.) It is filled with spoilers, so don’t check it out unless you’ve read the whole series.

Next we have some amazing fanart by Mary.bt! Mary drew a fantastic picture of Kit from my Second Age of Retha series!

Kit from The Luckless by Mary.bt

I had to admire Mary’s willingness to draw Kit. Between the fluttering fabric of her skirt and her strands of hair, Kit is a BEAST to draw, and Mary did a fantastic job with all the other details of the outfit–like her belt and necklaces! Thanks again, Mary.bt, for using your skills to bring Kit to life! 😉

Finally, we have some themed posts coming up soon. I’m doing my usual–but horribly late–“year in review” post, and after that it’s the post you’re all waiting for: The Favorite Hero Poll! (Reminder, the favorite Heroine poll is in summer. This poll is just for the dudes.)

In the meantime, I have already begun working on my next penname/A. M. Sohma book, The Revived, the third book in The second Age of Retha series. (For those of who haven’t heard about my penname, click here to go to that portion of the website.)

With that I believe we are all caught up. Thank you for reading A Goose Girl and Twelve Dancing Princesses, Champions. I hope you enjoyed them, and have had a fantastic start to 2018!

Goose Girl and Weird Symbolism

I’m just going to put it out there, the symbolism and the moral of the original Goose Girl story is awfully muddled. In fact, it seems like the Brothers Grimm–who are usually quite clear cut in their morals–can’t decide if they are telling a coming of age story, or a tale to remind kids to listen to their elders.

Here’s my case:

So the old queen is sending her beautiful daughter off to a far away country to get married–a pretty clear transition from girlhood to adulthood, right? Well some of the weirder parts of the story drive that point home, specifically the handkerchief with the three drops of blood on it.

In my research I found several reasons for why the handkerchief was important–some explanations said it was divine proof of the princess’s royal identity, others say it places the princess under the old queen’s care and protection. But what everyone agrees on, is that the handkerchief ties the princess to the queen and by losing it, she severs the bond between them which is how the maid manages her takeover.

So let’s recap: The princess is traveling to a foreign country BY HERSELF to get married, but because she steps entirely out of her childhood she ends up dooming herself and the maid takes over. (That’s not exactly an encouraging coming of age tale.)

The princess’s continued action doesn’t make it any better either. When they arrive at the kingdom of her husband-to-be, she stands around in the courtyard and does NOTHING until the old King (not her intended) basically asks “Why is there a random girl doing nothing in my courtyard?”

Her inattention continues, even to the point where when Falada–who is called her faithful steed–is KILLED. Indeed, the princess shows no signs of growing up at all until Little Conrad tries to pluck her hair and she sicks the wind on him. After that, she grows a little more proactive, but she only speaks to the King because Conrad complained about her so if this really was a coming of age story it’s a pretty poor one. (“Sit on your bum, kids, and one day you too will be crowned princess because one of your co-workers complained to HR!”)

The Goose Girl by Walter Crane.

I did read a few explanations that argued that princess is displaying meekness and sweet temperament–which prove her divine status as a royal. These same explanations claimed that her return to her royal status just shows that nobility is more than just a title but is something you’re born with that will eventually reveal itself. Honestly I think that’s a load of horse droppings–birth does NOT make you better or lesser than someone. Plus this doesn’t really help the coming of age argument anyway, all it does is make a case for the many childish kings/queens from history.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the actions of the old King that point to the story of being more of the “listen to your elders” instructive parable.

The King notices the princess when she arrives, actually listens to Little Conrad and then summons the princess, and he’s also the one who figures out how the princess can get around her vow by telling the stove, and he’s the one who handles the chambermaid when her betrayal is revealed.

But the whole bit at the start–where the old queen bids farewell to her daughter in what is clearly a bid for the childhood-to-adulthood-narrative–kinda messes up the King’s often overlooked wisdom and intelligence.

Personally, I’m more inclined to go for the ‘listen to your elders’ moral, but I admittedly have very little patience for heroines who aren’t proactive or even just productive.

But what do you think, Champions? Does the original story make a little more sense, now? What kind of story do YOU think it is?